Efficient Aeroelastic Analysis Of Helicopter Blades Via Gnat-Based Model-Order Reduction Approach

Abstract

A model order reduction technique based on Proper Orthogonal Decomposition (POD) and Gauss-Newton with Approximated Tensors (GNAT) was applied to investigate the aeroelastic behavior of composite rotor blades. Rotor blades are slender and require aeroelastic analysis to accurately predict their response and the relevant vibratory loads, which involves numerous iterative calculations. To address this issue, the GNAT- based model order reduction (MOR) approach was applied to the geometrically exact beam theory. At this point, a low-dimensional approximation of the nonlinear finite element matrix of the system was constructed. The method was then applied to the aeroelastic analysis of a rotor blade. The results of the analysis demonstrate that the GNAT-based MOR can accurately capture the dynamics of these complex systems, while significantly reducing the computational cost. This approach has potential applications in the design and analysis of aerospace structures and systems, particularly those with geometrical nonlinearity and significant rotating effect.